


He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

by IrieAdam



Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Language of Flowers, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-18
Updated: 2013-05-18
Packaged: 2017-12-12 05:07:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/807611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrieAdam/pseuds/IrieAdam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Only the beauty of a flower gave two different people the rare chance of being able to spend their time together. But once the flower runs out of petals, so will their friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

The sun was already setting down. It was time for the students of Spring Academy to leave their classrooms for the last time of the first semester and bid goodbye to their friends. Summer had already entered the season and everyone was excited to spend their break with friends and family.

“Sakura! Would you like to hang out with us tonight?” Tomoyo asked.

“I’d love to but I promised otou-sama I’d help him clean up in the bakery today.”

“Well, okay. Be careful then!”

“Thanks.”

Sakura was walking on the quiet streets, sighing quietly to herself. She regretted having lied to her friend about helping her father. She actually wanted to hang out with her friends but the reason why she excused herself was simply because their boyfriends would come along as well. Not that there was anything wrong about that. She just felt… left out.

As she was walking, she suddenly came across a wide meadow with many blooming white flowers. Whenever she would walk to school or back home, she would always pass by that beautiful field of green and white. She decided to stop by for the first time and hang around in there for a while.

When she knelt down to pick a flower, she became slightly surprised to see a shadow suddenly falling over her head.

“Is this your first time stopping by?” a male voice caused her heart to freeze.

Sakura moved her head slowly, nervous of knowing who she was about to see until her eyes completely widened to meet the amber eyes she had been avoiding all her school life.

He looked at her rather amusedly as he flashed her a pleasant smile. “This is the first time I’ve seen someone else hanging out here at this time of—” he stopped mid-sentence when he seemed to have recognized her uniform.

Sakura gulped in when she noticed him staring at her without saying anything. “I-Is something w-wrong?” She quickly blushed when he also knelt down and leaned toward her.

“Are you really from Spring Academy?” he asked; his eyes were now gazing somewhat at her chest.

Sakura quickly moved away as she covered her chest with both of her arms. “Y-Yes…”

He leaned a little closer until he was two or three inches away from her face. “Is that so?” When he grabbed her arm from covering herself, Sakura immediately closed her eyes and was about to scream for help when suddenly—

“You’re wearing your bowtie wrong,” he said and untied her bow. “It’s supposed to go like this.”

Sakura opened an eye to check her bowtie and saw that it was already redone. She looked up at him blushingly, feeling so embarrassed for mistaking his actions for something else that was perverted. “Uhm, thank you…” she spoke shyly.

“No problem,” he smiled and sat beside her. He saw that she had a flower on her hand. “I see you’ve met Aster. In love with someone?”

“P-Pardon?” Sakura said, bemusedly.

“The flowers in this field are called Japanese asters, which also mean ‘love’,” he began. “They grow from mid-summer to frost but they’re most beautiful on summer. You know, I always visit this place after classes. It relaxes me.” He turned to her before continuing, “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Sakura replied instinctively as she admired not the beauty of the place, but his charm which captivated her the most.

The guy stretched out his arms before lying down over the grass and gazed amazedly at the sky. “I’ve always thought of bringing the girl I love to this place one day… Then I’ll confess to her about how I really feel.” He chuckled shortly after. “That is, if I find that girl.”

Sakura blushed after hearing his idealistic statement, realizing that only the two of them were there—which wasn’t good at all. She swore to herself never to interfere with guys like him from school, the popular bad-boy type. To her, they meant nothing more but trouble most especially since girls die over them for a reason she couldn’t understand. But after spending a little time with him, she realized, ‘He actually seems like a nice guy.’

“Kinomoto, right?” his voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

She nodded before asking, “How did you know?”

“Eriol told me about you. He’s the guy dating your friend, Tomoto.”

Sakura giggled. “I think you meant ‘Tomoyo’.”

“R-Right…” He scratched his head in embarrassment. “So, to whom are you going to give that flower?”

Sakura opened her mouth but not a word came out. She lowered her head and gazed at the ground in shame.

The guy immediately sat up when he noticed the blue expression on her face. “Have I said something wrong?”

Sakura shook her head before turning to him with a faint smile. “It means ‘love’, right? So I guess I’d give this one to otou-san.”

He picked an aster beside him and handed it to her. “Then take this one. It’s for you.”

“M-Me?” Sakura stuttered as she pointed a finger at herself.

“I don’t see anyone else.” Sakura smacked herself in her imagination feeling so stupid to have even asked. “Take it,” he said and gave the flower to her. “I forgot to tell you its other meaning.”

“Which is?”

“You’ll have to find that out on your own.”

 

* * *

 

Sakura took a chair from the table that was located near the leftmost corner of the school library which was the quietest spot of the room. As soon as she took a seat, she opened the book to a page where there was a picture of a beautiful flower. And beside that picture was the flower’s name, ‘Ateromea mongolica’, otherwise known as the ‘Japanese Aster’.

She began to read the rest of the information written below the flower’s name when a loud slam on the same table disturbed her.

“I think it’s about time you do some explaining!”

Sakura looked up to see an exasperated young woman with dark wavy hair standing before the opposite side of the table. “Hello, Tomoyo,” she greeted with a playful smile.

Tomoyo took out a chair where she quickly sat. “I can’t believe you actually made me wait in the entire summer break before you can finally tell me the whole story! Don’t you know how excited I was to finally see my bestest friend in love with—”

Sakura quickly covered her friend’s mouth before she could finish what she knew Tomoyo was going to blurt out. “First of all, I’m not in love, alright? I just admire him, and that’s it. Second, could you keep your voice down? There are other people in the room who might hear you!”

Tomoyo shoved Sakura’s hands off her mouth. “Fine, fine. But I still can’t believe it! You actually got to spend time with him alone! Plus, he gave you a flower which meant ‘love’? Gosh, I’m so happy for you!”

“I really don’t think he meant that exactly when he gave the flower to me,” Sakura said softly with a little disappointment obvious from her tone. “He told me it has another meaning but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I’m starting to think he only made it up, that other meaning,” she chuckled.

“He probably said that because he’s too shy to tell you directly that he loves you.” She stuck her tongue out at Sakura playfully.

“Nah. I wouldn’t count on it. Besides, we just met at that time, remember?” She closed the book she was reading and drooped herself on the table. “I feel kinda stupid. I don’t even know why I’m trying so hard to find out what that flower means—I mean, like why should I care, right? Ugh!”

Sakura constantly slapped her head. She hated herself for being so curious. Did it matter what Syaoran meant when he gave her the flower? ‘No!’ Of course, it didn’t! She and Syaoran had their own different places in the world. He was a popular jock and she—well, that's really important. The thing was that it wasn’t like they would get to spend time with each other again like last time.

Tomoyo rolled her eyes. Her face leaned slightly toward Sakura’s and she flicked a finger on her friend’s forehead.

“Ow!” Sakura growled at her friend as she rubbed her forehead. “What was that for?”

“If you’re sooooo desperate to know what that flower means, why don’t you go and ask Li yourself?”

Sakura also thought of doing the same but she was feeling slightly embarrassed to go and meet him again. She was very conscious of how he would think of her if she came there just to ask him about the flower. She thought that she would probably only end up getting laughed at by him and hear him say, ‘I can’t believe you took that seriously!’ Also, what would other students say if they saw poor little her with the popular Li Syaoran? Trouble would definitely befall on her.

But no matter how she would think about it, she still managed to get her feet to walk to the meadow as soon as classes ended that day.

How she regretted having betrayed her principles.

She looked around the fields and wondered why she couldn’t find him anywhere.

“Oh, you’ve come to visit?” a voice said behind her.

Sakura turned around and saw him, the person she was waiting for. And as he was walking toward her, her heart would beat faster and faster.

He stood in front of her. “You came a little early today unlike last time. Well,” he shrugged and gave her a smirk. “It’s just the two of us now amidst these ‘asters of love’. Have you come to confess something?”

Sakura quickly turned red at what he said. She shook her head to let go of the blush and turned to look at him a bit formally. “I, uhm, did come here to see you…”

Syaoran maintained the cool expression on his face though inside, he was actually a bit shocked and confused by her response. “I was just joking about the confession thing by the way. I-Is this about the flower I gave you before? I did mention that it has another meaning aside from ‘love’, right?” he joked while laughing somehow oddly.

Sakura chuckled at the way he was acting. “Don’t worry. It’s not what you think. But you’re right. I came here to ask about the flower you gave me.”

“What about it then?”

“I tried searching for its other meaning but all I found were ‘elegance’ and ‘patience’ aside from ‘love’,” she explained.

Syaoran shook his head repeatedly as he mumbled ‘Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.’ “That’s not what I really meant.” He bent down to pick an aster and gave it to her. “The meaning is already there.”

“Huh?” she asked sounding very puzzled now.

“What comes into your mind when you see that flower?”

Sakura observed the flower for a bit before looking back at him. “That the flower is white? And… pure?”

He sighed. “I guess that’s fine.” He walked a little closer and just when he was finally near her, he gently brushed his fingers against the petals of the flower she was holding. “Whenever I would take a look at this flower, the first thing I would always see—“ he slowly looked up until amber met emerald, “—is how exotically beautiful this flower is.” He chuckled as he embarrassedly ruffled his hair. “Well, that’s how I see it at least.”

Sakura was about speechless. Did that mean that when he gave her that flower, he meant what he just said?

“Li-kun,” she later smiled with a light tint of blush appearing on her face. “I think that’s a very lovely meaning.”

 

* * *

 

Ever since the first day of the second semester, Sakura took the habit of visiting the wide meadow of Japanese asters before heading home. The place kept her mind at ease. She could feel almost one with nature. Oh, if only she had learned to appreciate the place earlier, she would have been visiting the place since first year.

“Oi! Kinomoto-san!”

But if only she got to know him better earlier, she would have been visiting the place since first grade when she first knew him in school.

“Sorry I’m late,” he rubbed his head sheepishly. “Terada-sensei sent me to…” Syaoran looked up as if he was searching for the word.

“Detention?” Sakura said teasingly even with the innocent look on her face.

Syaoran shrugged casually. “If that’s how you’d call it.” He dropped his bag on the ground and sat beside her. “When I was hurrying on my way here, I was worried thinking that maybe you’ve already left for home. But I’m glad to see that I was wrong.”

Sakura quickly turned her head to him, surprised to hear him say those words. ‘He’s glad to see me?’

“I want to show you something,” he said as he started grabbing from his bag. “I’m not really sure if you’ll like it though.”

Sakura watched closely as he continued to search in his bag. When she noticed that he was already taking too long, she couldn’t help but comment, “There must be a lot of stuff in there. I wonder how many nude magazines you’ve stacked in that bag.”

Eyes widened, Syaoran cast a short glance at her before returning his attention to his bag. “I’m not who you think I am, you know.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow in the air. “Oh really?” He rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Li. Whatever you say,” she snorted and laughed quietly as she was glancing at the porn magazine she spotted from his bag.

“Found it!”

When Sakura saw Syaoran holding a pair of couple bracelets, she gasped with utmost shock. “W-W-What’s that for?”

“It’s for us!” Sakura could not comprehend from his tone if he was being serious or what. “I saw a lady selling stuffs like these on my way here. And when I remembered you, I thought of buying a pair for the both of us.”

After Syaoran was done putting the bracelet around her wrist, Sakura took a closer look at the bracelet and saw a lovely word that melted her heart: FRIENDS. She never expected to receive that word from a person she could only meet after classes.

“Like it?”

She turned to his face with a soft smile. “I love it! Thank you, Syaoran,” she said and pulled him into a warm hug.

 

* * *

 

“Sakura-chan, will you join us later?”

“No thanks, Tomoyo. I’m planning to go somewhere else. I hope you understand.” She showed a feeble smile. “I was just hoping to see him before winter holiday.”

Tomoyo comforted her with a pat on her back. “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’ll show up later. He was just busy practicing with the soccer team in the past few weeks. That’s all.”

“Yeah. I hope you’re right…”

When Sakura reached the meadow, she saw that the place was barely empty with just grass. It was already winter, and only a few asters were left to bring life in the fields. Not even the person she wanted to see the most was there.

She sighed as she walked over to a flower and picked it up. She sluggishly threw herself on the ground and lied down. One by one, she pulled each petal as she softly muttered ‘he loves me… he loves me not…’ alternately until nothing more would be left.

And as she regrettably pulled the last petal, she whispered sadly to the air, “He loves me not…”

“Who doesn’t love you?”

“Him.”

“Who the heck is ‘him’?”

“You know. He’s—“ before Sakura could continue, she quickly snapped out from her unconscious self when she realized that she had been talking to someone else. She immediately sat up and looked up at the person who was shading her. “Syaoran!”

He chuckled softly. “You just found out, eh?”

“I thought I was just dreaming then I found out that you—“ She gasped and covered her mouth when she realized that she was about to commit the biggest mistake when she was answering instinctively to him. “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I almost said it!”

“Too bad,” he sighed. “And I was just about to find out your secret—which is funny. Aren’t friends supposed to share secrets?”

Sakura looked down at the floor, feeling guilty that she couldn’t share that one secret with him.

He gently rubbed her hair. “Just kidding. I can’t force you to if you don’t want to.”

When he gestured to sit beside her, Sakura nodded. “Did you still have to ask?”

“I just thought you might’ve been mad at me,” he said and sat beside her. “By the way, I bought you this,” he said as he pulled out a necklace with a star pendant and put it on her. “I wanted to repay you for the days we haven’t met.”

Sakura remained silent as she felt the pendant with her fingers and looked up at him. “Syaoran, look,” she began slowly. “I understand why you couldn’t come, okay? And it’s not like you’re obliged to come here every day. I appreciate the gift, really, but you didn’t have to buy me anything!”

“Fine,” he shrugged. “Then just look at it like my Christmas present to you in advance.”

“Syaoraaaaaan!”

“Just take it already,” he said and laughed. “I already paid for it anyway.”

“Li Syaoran! You spoil me too much.”

“I like spoiling my cute little friend,” he teased as he pinched her cheeks. “Makes me happy to see you happy.” He smiled softly.

Sakura slowly shook her head. “Honestly, you… What would happen to you if other girls abused your kindness for their own pleasure?”

“FYI, you’re the only girl I’ve spoiled this much. Sooooo spoiled that you couldn’t even thank me for the gift I gave you.”

Sakura gave him a soft peck on his left cheek, making him unable to hide his blush. “Thank you for the necklace,” she said and smiled.

“Mhmm… Soft lips you got there. Could you perhaps do it again?” Syaoran leaned really close to her face. “On my lips this time?”

Sakura turned completely red and quickly pushed him away. “You’re such a perv!” she shouted as she was constantly hitting him on the arm.

Syaoran laughed though he was wincing a bit to the pain. “Sheesh! I was only kidding!—except for the soft lips part.” And he received another slap from her, only harder. “Alright already! I’ll stop!”

 

* * *

  

“Aren’t you going to give him anything today?”

Sakura looked over the book she was reading. “And why would I give something to whom today?”

Tomoyo knocked a few times on her forehead. “Earth to Sakura! Don’t you even know what day it is today?”

“Quiet you! We’re in the library for heaven’s sake!” Sakura pretended to shout with her softest voice.

Tomoyo groaned in exasperation. “Why on earth did you even choose this place to hang out? You always had to shush me.”

“I chose this place so that I can concentrate on reading this book,” Sakura began. “You, on the other hand, suddenly jumped over out of nowhere.”

“Oops!” Tomoyo giggled realizing that Sakura was correct. “But I still can’t believe you don’t know anything about today!”

“It’s Valentine’s. So?”

“Exactly!” Tomoyo pointed out. “And you’re not going to give him chocolates?”

“Tomoyo, are you forgetting that he has a lot of fans? He’ll only get sick of those if I would give him the same thing.”

“Ohhhhhh…” A sly smile formed across Tomoyo’s face. “You’re planning to do something else, aren’t you, Sakura-chan?”

“S-Sort of?” Sakura answered rather unsurely while scratching her cheek. “I just thought of doing it in the meadow instead.”

“I’m sure you’ll do absolutely fine.” Tomoyo gave her a double ‘thumbs up’. “You can do it girl!”

Sakura wished she could really do it. She wasn’t even sure if it was the right time.

Winter season was almost over, and she was hopeful that maybe even at least one aster had already sprouted in the fields. It was the Valentine’s present she was planning to give him on that day. The fact that she and Syaoran always got to see those flowers didn’t matter to her. To her, the most important thing was the message the flower would give him.

But unfortunately, she couldn’t find a single aster in the meadow.

‘If I won’t be able to give him anything, I’ll just have to tell him straightaway.’

“Sakura?” the voice that called out to her alarmed her. She still wasn’t sure of what she would do when she would finally face him.

As soon as she turned around to greet him, her heart suddenly froze to a stop when she saw another girl clinging on Syaoran’s arm. She was unable to utter a word at the sight that greatly feared her. The girl didn’t look like a student from Spring Academy because she was wearing a different set of uniform.

“Hey! Early again as usual,” he greeted.

Sakura forced out a chuckle and said, “Y-Yeah…”

“This is Okinawa Shiori by the way.” The other girl laughed when he ruffled her black hair. “Shiori, she’s my friend, Kinomoto Sakura.”

“Oh! So you’re the cute girl Syaoran was talking about!” Shiori exclaimed. “Syaoran used to tell me a lot about you!”

“He… He did?” Sakura asked.

Shiori nodded. “He often includes you in his stories every time he visits my house.”

Her last statement kept repeating itself in Sakura’s mind. ‘He goes to her house…’

“I see,” Sakura smiled and pretended to be cheerful. “You two must be very close. Color me jealous,” she joked pretentiously. She bent down to take her bag. “Well, I have to get going.”

Syaoran frowned. “You’re leaving already?”

“Yeah… Otou-san just called me before you came. He said he needs my help in the bakery,” she said while dusting her bag.

Syaoran half-opened his mouth but he slowly turned his head away before he could say anything.

“Have fun then!” Sakura waved at them.

She immediately turned around and walked away. She felt so bad. She couldn’t look at him in the eyes the whole time because she knew that if she did, she would only end up crying. But as she was walking farther and farther away from him, her eyes finally gave up to the tears that wanted to run down so desperately…

…because the ‘last petal’ was right all along…

 

* * *

  

Sakura wondered why almost everyone was staring at her since the moment her foot stepped into the school building. When she went inside the classroom, she started gazing at the floor to avoid seeing her classmates from staring at her until she reached her desk. She was greatly disturbed by all the eyes on her. And as soon as she took her seat, she heard people whispering behind her back and she was sure she heard them mention her name more than twice.

She couldn’t remember doing anything that would cause her to gain too much attention—unless, of course, they found her out.

She was later surprised when someone dropped a red square bag on her desk.

“You left your lunch bag.”

The familiar voice stopped her heart from beating. All the other noise around her suddenly faded. The room was too quiet. She slowly looked up at the person standing before her desk and as soon as emerald met amber, her mouth almost dropped to her shock.

His eyes were scowling down on her. “You made me wait out there for a week but you didn’t show up. And since you wouldn’t see me, I thought of giving you a visit instead.”

Sakura lowered her head in shame. “I’m sorry for the trouble…”

“Oh, you should be!” he began to shout. “I tried calling and texting you but not one reply!”

“My phone must have run out of battery.”

“I asked Eriol to tell you to see me and still nothing!”

“I was busy, okay?”

Syaoran slammed his hands on the table. “Damn it, Sakura! Stop lying to me!”

His enraged voice scared everyone in the room, including Sakura. But she wouldn’t show it. Instead, she stood up right in front of him, still maintaining her composure.

“Thank you for returning my lunch bag. But please understand—“

“I’ve always tried that, Sakura,” he cut her off. His eyes gazed at her painfully. “Don’t friends do that for each other? At least—for once—let me truly understand you.”

Sakura was motionless as he walked out. Tears later began to form in her eyes just when she realized that she was being unfair to him.

 

* * *

  

Days had passed since Sakura last heard from him. She tried waiting for him in the meadow so that she could tell him how sorry she was but he didn’t come. She supposed it was ‘karma’—every act done will eventually return to the doer with equal impact. In her case, she received her payment for being truly unfair to the man who tried so hard to truly understand her.

Sakura was walking in the main hallway to go outside and meet Tomoyo and her other friends in the school yard for lunch break. When she turned around a corner, she gasped seeing Syaoran and his gang near the door where she was supposed to head to. She quickly hid herself behind the corner and prayed they would all leave soon.

“You can’t hang out with us again?” she heard a male voice say. “You’re no fun, Li!”

“Sorry guys… But I promised Shiori I’d go out with her today.”

“I noticed something. Don’t you always go to that place after classes?” a familiar voice asked. She guessed it was Eriol.

“I guess I’m already fed up with it. And besides, it’s only filled with a bunch of flowers.”

“And Sakura?”

“Honestly,” Syaoran said and paused for a moment. “I don’t think I know her anymore.”

Sakura immediately ran off to the girls’ comfort room. She couldn’t handle any more of what he could possibly say. After she had finished drying her eyes off, she slowly dragged her feet outside only to find out that he was already standing there leaning on the opposite wall while waiting for her.

“Ten minutes.”

“Huh?” she said, baffled.

“It took you ten minutes to do your business in there.”

Sakura stood speechless. She couldn’t follow him. Was he mocking her?

“Is that a habit of yours? Dropping things?” He slowly approached her and took her hand. “You left your wallet in the hallway,” he said as he dropped the object on her hand. “Be careful, will you? Littering isn’t allowed in school, you little dummy.” He flicked a finger on her forehead before turning around and walked away.

“Syaoran!” He abruptly stopped when she called him. “I… I’m sorry! I was too selfish, I admit! Please! I just… I just hope you can forgive me…”

He looked over his shoulder and smiled softly. But sadly for her, not another word came out from his lips.

Sakura watched him as he left. She noticed that he wasn’t wearing the bracelet anymore.

Could it be that their friendship finally had to end there? She wasn’t ready to be left by him just yet but considering the situation, it seemed like he already did.

 

* * *

  

At the end of the school year, every student hurried out of their classrooms, shouting and jumping with huge excitement visible on their smiling faces. Some of them would do the tradition of signing on their classmate’s uniform while others would simply take their time chatting and planning holiday trips with their friends.

As for Sakura, she would rather visit the meadow for the last time of the school year.

She went to lie down on the soft grass with a white Japanese aster on her hand. As she was slowly pulling out its petals, she would remember the days she spent together with the first guy she had fallen in love with amidst the fields of green and white from the day they first met to the day when she was unable to give him her Valentine’s present.

She knew she lost her only chance…

Sakura was about to pull out the last petal when she suddenly hesitated and stood on her feet.

“Li Syoran!” she started screaming to the thin air. “You are so damn stupid! You want to understand me? Then fine! I LOVE YOU, damn it!” She slowly dropped on her knees then to her bottom, her eyes bursting with tears. Her voice cracked as she muttered, “Happy now?”

“Why shouldn’t I be?”

Sakura slowly raised her head and saw before her a man kneeling on the ground with a handkerchief on his hand. He gently wiped the tears from her face and gave her a warm smile.

Her jaw almost dropped at the sight of him. She covered her face with her hands in shame. “I can’t believe you just heard that.”

“What could be wrong with that?” Syaoran questioned as he took her hands off her face. “I think the way you blurted out your so-called ‘confession’ was pretty romantic.” He laughed casually.

Sakura let out a soft chuckle, realizing how she must have made a big fool out of herself.

“I gotta hand it to you. You really shocked me there,” he said. “I was just about to take a nap when I heard some crazy young woman calling me ‘stupid’.” His smile grew wider as he was barely unable to control his laughter.

“You mean to say you were already here before I—“ Syaoran nodded before she could finish her statement. She suddenly lowered her gaze. “I thought I heard you say you were already fed up with this place…”

“People change their minds,” he said softly. “Didn’t you get my message when I returned your wallet?”

Sakura shook her head innocently.

He heaved a sigh. “I put in there a piece of paper before returning it to you.”

Sakura took the wallet from her bag. She searched for the paper while flipping through every money bill and when she found it, she slowly unfolded it and read what it said:

> I’ve seen a few white asters starting to bloom (I expected them to grow a bit later).  
>  They all still look really beautiful.  
>  We should go and visit them together. There’s also something I have to tell you.  
>  I’ll see you there, okay?

She looked back at him with a gasp which she quickly covered with her hands.

“You’ve made me wait for the second time.”

“I never thought…” Sakura muffled so softly as if she was out of breath. “I assumed you didn’t want to see me again.”

Syaoran slightly arched an eyebrow. “That’s crazy! What made you think like that?”

Sakura glanced at both of his wrists and didn’t see him wearing the bracelet. “You’re not wearing it anymore.”

Syaoran noticed where she was staring at. “Oh, that…” he muttered while rubbing the back of his neck. “I kind of, uhm, lost it when I was helping Shiori with her grocery shopping. Sorry…”

Sakura felt a little down when she heard the other girl’s name again.

“Her parents are away for a while,” he continued. “She said it had something to do with family business. She and her little sister are the only ones left so I thought of helping her around with the house while their parents are gone.” He took his breath after the short explanation. “That’s why I couldn’t always go here lately.”

Sakura smiled. “It’s okay. I understand how you wanted to help your girlfriend.”

Syaoran laughed almost hysterically.

Her smile turned into a scowl. “What’s so funny?”

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?” Wordless, Sakura wasn’t very successful at hiding her blush. “Shiori’s just a childhood friend and my neighbor. I never looked at her that way, Sakura. Besides, she already has a boyfriend!”

Sakura let out a silent ‘oh’.

Syaoran looked at her briefly before letting out a sigh. “Is there anything else I have to clear out for you?” he asked sounding a bit frustrated.

Sakura giggled shyly. “I’m fine now.” She stood up and stretched out her arms after finally having been relieved of all her misunderstandings. “So, what is it that you were going to tell me?”

“Do you remember what I said the first day we met here?”

Sakura gazed down at him with a staggering feeling. “S-Sort of… Why’d you ask?”

He grabbed her hand and tugged her down before pulling her into a tender kiss.

“I love you, Sakura.”


End file.
